I think GMMG could have hired any of the available coaches. It's not like Tort's was chosen because he was the last available. I think going with Torts is a bold move. We've been asking for a bold move...

This team is one or two years away from being blown the fuck up. Torts has a one or two year shelf life.

If the team is going to continue to age before our eyes and get ground into dust with 1 playoff win in 2 years, I'd rather roll the dice on a volatile but sometimes successful coach than a rookie head coach for Toronto or an assistant coach on a trap team.

I don’t think any of the coaching options looked like home runs to me. No matter which way Gillis went, he was going to be vilified and second guessed.

Despite some of his head scratching decisions and over-reliance on his veterans, I did like AV. The major aspect of the past two seasons that consistently pissed me off was the guys didn’t look interested in putting in more than 50% effort for the vast majority of our games games. To me, coaching is at least partly responsible for that. I hope Torts can get this core group of players playing as a five man unit with more consistency, like we saw in 2011.

To me this is a bold move. The bulk of the players aren’t going to be changing teams, and Tortorella’s track record is pretty good. Despite what some have said, he has a record of coaching teams for long periods of time, so I’m not so sure he has a short shelf life.

herb wrote:Tippett has agreed to a five year contract extension with Phoenix, so he’s officially not an option.

Gillis met with Johnny T yesterday in Boston.

Eakins, Tippett, Ruff, AV all snapped up.

Basically just Torts and Stevens left, MG has to sign quick this time or some other team will try to snag em up.

Torts was the first choice the moment NYR let him go, The Canucks weren't left taking the left overs. This was their guy. They did the same frigging thing in hiring MG. I heard before Nonis was fired that Nonis was getting fired and this guy named Mike Gillis was going to be GM. They did this dog and pony show pretend interviewing with a number of candidates after he was offered the job. They denied it of course but this situation is the same.

I was told back in early May that if Torts was fired the Canucks were going to hire him. I didn't believe it but my friend was adamant that he had talked to a number of players who after having their exit interviews all had the same message. If Torts was available he was going to get the coaching job.

Now I don't know how much this is a MG hiring or how much this was very strongly suggested to him as the best way to go. That is something I don't know if we will ever know.

Hockey Widow wrote:I was told back in early May that if Torts was fired the Canucks were going to hire him. I didn't believe it but my friend was adamant that he had talked to a number of players who after having their exit interviews all had the same message. If Torts was available he was going to get the coaching job.

I think this is going to be a disaster. There is a lot of focus on his relationship to the media, but I don't give a crap about that. This is a hail-mary pass by Gillis (or worse Aqulini...who is making the hockey decisions on this team?!), and I fear it'll blow up in their face. I'll hope for the best, Canucks for life, but I can't say I'm optimistic or pumped about this at all. True, it'll be an freaking entertaining ride...Hank and Danny blocking shots, yes, that'll be a real good use of their talent!